My Review of 'Roma'

I'm not sure why I wanted to watch Roma in the first place. I think it's because it was receiving a ton of awards and I wanted to know what the hype was all about. Normally, it wouldn't hit any of my normal viewing criteria. The movie is in black and white, it's a period piece, there's no action, it's a heavy drama and it's in subtitles. You have to go outside your comfort zone to find good movies though.

Roma is basically about a nanny named Cleo. She helps out with the kids and the house in what looks like a pretty wealthy family. She's pretty much a part of the family but first and foremost she knows that it's a job. She's got her own life and tries to make the best of her situation but there's so much craziness going on in Mexico in the 1970s. I don't know how she goes on with her life so casually as if nothing is really that big of a deal. I kind of expected more reactions from her but her character is very subdued and there's not a ton of emotion that comes out of her.

I think Roma is an interesting movie. It comes with so much to say and stuff that we all don't regularly recognize. The turmoil of Mexico back in the 1970s isn't really talked about nowadays. Generally, I don't know much about Mexican history so it was good to see this. The lifestyle seems drastically different from what I had envisioned life would be in Mexico back in the 1970s. It's a pretty interesting look at life in that era and in that country. Stories like these aren't presented to the public and they need to be because this is history that would be lost otherwise.

The film itself was shot very beautifully. All the scenes are shot so vividly. Despite the fact that everything was shot black and white you still have a sense of the atmosphere and the look and feel of things. I understand why the movie was shot in black and white. I guess pictures back then were shot with less color and I think if they had shot the movie in color some of the atmosphere of the movie would have disappeared.

Unfortunately, this movie starts off very slow. Yes, they needed to build up this movie the way they did and I understand why they did this. It helps develop the atmosphere and learn about the characters. As a casual movie viewer myself this was almost torturous in the beginning. I almost wanted to change the movie or shut it off altogether because of my bad attention deficit. I'm glad I stuck around and kept going because it eventually gets better. A ton of stuff happens in this movie but no matter how crazy it is it's always played off so nuanced and subtle. People obviously react but there's a somber note to each of the crazy things that happen that I just went with it not reacting too much just like the main character.

So is this a pretentious movie? I would say you start off thinking it is but then later I got absorbed into it. I cared about the characters and I guess I have an understanding of the era so I see and understand each of the character's motivations and reactions. On the other hand, I could also see how people that don't understand that generation would react very differently to the movie. They wouldn't understand a lot of the characters reacted the way they did when such craziness was happening.

Overall, I liked the movie but it wouldn't be a movie that I would go watch over and over again. The first viewing was nice enough for me. Yes, I would recommend others to watch it not for entertainment value though. I would have them watch it for context into what Mexico was like in the past. I'm sure we all have our assumptions as to what it was like and this movie kind of broke a ton of stereotypes for me. It also brought in some messed up concepts into my mind like how lighter skinned Mexicans were more wealthy and darker skinned Mexicans had to be the help. Overall I would give this movie a 7 out of 10. I don't quite think this movie is accessible to everyone and not everyone will get it. It will take a while to get into but it gets good when it does.